90 years on, Burlington's Paramount Theater history continues to grow

Sunday

An enduring emblem from the silent-film age, the Paramount Theater is still entertaining Alamance County audiences

Over nine decades, the Paramount Theater in downtown Burlington has seen some radical changes and alterations for a building that wasn’t meant to last.

The Paramount Theater, 128 E. Front St., began construction in March 1928 and opened Dec. 19, 1928, under the lessee J.R. “Judge” Qualls. It took $25,000 to build the theater, as it was meant to be a temporary fixture; it was to either be torn down or converted a few years later to make way for a bigger, nicer theater across Main Street, but when the Great Depression hit, the theater stayed.

However, it was known as the Grand Theater back then.

“It was truly grand,” said Paramount Theater managing director David Wright. “It was beautiful. It was very spacious. It was a real showplace and it was clear that it was going to be the family theater.”

Qualls changed the name of the theater in September 1929 to Paramount after looking up the definition in the dictionary.

“ ‘Paramount’ meant the ‘best,’ ‘tip-top,’ and that is what his theater was going to be,” Wright said. “They did change the name to Paramount and it has been that way ever since.”

When the theater opened, the goal was for it to be the first sound theater in Burlington since there were several silent movie theaters in the area. The first sound system did not arrive until March 1929, though, since there was such a high demand for sound systems. The first movie that showed there was the 1928 silent film, “Three Weekends,” featuring Clara Bow, Neil Hamilton and Harrison Ford (obviously not the living actor).

“We forget sometimes how big movies were back then,” Wright said. “There was no radio in Burlington until 1941. There was no television, obviously. This was it. That was entertainment. It was not uncommon to go to the movies a couple of times a week.”

The theater then received its sound system from Warner Bros., which consisted of a record synchronized with the film.

“They had a little mark on the record and a mark on the film and the projectionist had to start it at the same time,” said historian Walter Boyd.

The projection booth, which is still there today, was originally built of steel because early motion picture film was made out of cellulose nitrate, which was extremely flammable and explosive. Film has since progressed into cellulose acetate.

The Paramount ran like that until the first of many renovations took place in January 1940, when it was completely gutted. A box office was installed as well as silver sconces that can still be seen on the walls, though the staff thought the sconces were bronze due to smoke stains.

“You used to be able to smoke cigarettes, pipes and stuff like that in here,” Wright said. “The color scheme, the original palate, was geared around these beautiful bronze colored sconces. When we sent them to a firm in High Point to have them cleaned and rewired and stuff like that, they called us back and said ‘Guys, these things are not bronze. They are silver.’ ”

Additional renovations included round surfaces replacing the square corners, and more seats and the balcony overhang being added.

“The 1940 renovation is what senior citizens today will remember because it was roughly short of 800 seats,” Wright said. “This was the place. The lobby was beautiful. It thrived as a movie house for all those years.”

To this day, the only original part of the building are the plaster medallions hanging on the ceiling.

One unique change that took place was during World War II. The Paramount used to change movies every two days but would not show a movie on Sunday due to blue laws. In 1943, that ended when soldiers complained that they couldn’t watch a movie on their day off.

“The mayor changed the regulations,” Boyd said.

A cosmetic renovation then took place in 1957, which included the corrugated metal sign out front reading “Paramount.” This change marked the difference between what people remember to this day versus people who can recall what the Paramount originally looked like, particularly since the most recent renovation reflects the early years.

“It was what we grew up with,” Wright said. “That is all we knew growing up, was that or that is all we could remember. What you see of the Paramount now is much more of what it looked like originally than what a lot of us grew up with.”

For an entire decade, the Paramount was left alone. It showed news reels, cartoons, movies and more to audiences, young and old.

When the late 1960s and early 1970s came around, everything changed.

Other theaters — the Park Theater and the Terrace Theater — opened up and shopping areas, including Cum Park Plaza and Holly Hill Mall, sprang up as well.

“People’s buying patterns changed. Merchants didn’t keep their businesses up,” Wright said. “People quit shopping downtown and as business overall downtown fell off, business here at the Paramount fell off. It became increasingly difficult to keep this big building up and running. Not a lot of care went into it and it really began to run downhill.”

In August 1971, it was decided the theater needed to close down. Boyd was sent to clear everything out of the theater in one week. He was told to take everything to the back door and throw it out for the trash.

Before it could shut down, though, Everett Qualls, the son of J.D. Qualls, bought the theater. The Qualls family tried to keep it running as a regular family movie house but couldn’t keep customers around, particularly because the theater showed a lot of B movies and not hits like “Star Wars.”

In May 1977, the Paramount shut its doors — for a few days. The Gallery Players Theater Group, which formed in 1970 and moved to Burlington in 1977, took control of the building for a dollar a year lease. They did their own set of renovations, including tearing down the movie screen.

“That is when the theater transitioned from a movie house to a performing arts center,” Wright said.

The first season at the Paramount featured the play, “Butterflies Are Free,” and the musical “Oliver.”

“They had some amazingly talented folks, some very dedicated folks, people who really wanted to bring theater to this area and did a very, very fine job,” Wright said. “They reopened and they were doing plays under really strenuous conditions. Yet for all those years, they were able to do good shows and drew very nice crowds.”

However, by 1994, time had taken its toll on the building, and it had fallen out of almost every code. Rainwater would pour over the electrical system, creating an electrical hazard.

The city took control of the theater and a huge debate began in the community about whether or not to tear the building down.

“There was a large number of people who were on the radio talk show and other places saying ‘Knock it down. We are not going to spend any money,’ ” Wright said.

The Paramount managed to stay open, though, which Wright gives credit to the city council and Mayor Joe Barbour.

“The reason cooler heads prevailed and people saw the value is that the city council listened and the mayor listened. To their credit, they did what politicians are supposed to do: they listened,” Wright said. “A lot of times, politicians don’t listen but they did and that is why we have the Paramount to this day.”

An idea emerged that the Paramount Theater could be used for more than plays and musicals; it could be used for public meetings, weddings, concerts, church services, political forums — and it has done so to this day.

“We average 240 uses of the Paramount a year,” Wright said. “That is not 240 productions or plays or something. It is performances, auditions, rehearsals, city meetings. We have body building events in here, beauty pageants, weddings, including my own. When that idea came up that the Paramount should be for everybody, that is what got the city council and they said ‘OK, we are going to do it.’ ”

For the next few years, the Paramount saw several renovations, which can be felt in the modern day.

“We have one of the best equipped theaters for a town our size anywhere,” Wright said. “We have state of the art lighting and sound. We have an orchestra pit.”

Another plus was spacious dressing rooms, something that the theater never saw before.

“In the old days, it was pretty tight in the dressing room. If you didn’t know your fellow cast mates at the beginning of the show, you did by the end,” Wright said.

After the renovations were completed in 1998, the theater reopened with 394 seats, since the original sloped floor was leveled, taking away about 300 seats. It has continued to have a place in the community with some wear and tear showing, but it comes from use, not abuse, Wright said.

“It is a well-used facility. People have taken the Paramount to their heart,” Wright said.

Over the years, online ticketing was added, which helped increase the theater’s footprint.

“We are getting reservations out of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem now much more easily than we used to,” Wright said.

As for future renovations, there are some plans in place.

After Moorefield Florist, which was located next to the Paramount, moved to 1532 S. Mebane St., the city and theater staff began looking at expanding the theater.

“Essentially, the idea is to increase the lobby all the way across to the far wall of Moorefield,” Wright said.

The tentative plans could also mean a professional kitchen for sit-down events, like wedding receptions and business meetings and dinners. The inside footprint could also change a little with the concession stand moving. Staff could have access to the back of the building from the front without having to go through the house or outside, too.

Another potential idea is to hold two events at the same time with a moveable wall.

“The idea is to give more opportunities and changes for people to utilize the Paramount. There will be a lot of times we anticipate where there will be two things going on at one time and it is going to bring more and more people downtown,” Wright said. “With everything that is going on otherwise downtown, it is a perfect fit. It is the perfect time for it.”

Reporter Kate Croxton can be reached at kate.croxton@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3078. Follow her on Twitter at @katecroxtonBTN.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.